Through the HellGate- Verity's Choice
by SwiftOre
Summary: (sequel to A Story About Love and Through the Eyes of Soldiers) Verity's actions have saved all of humanity and freed everyone. But the discovery of the lost squad of Titan-Shifters has opened up a new adventure for Eren and Verity, on both sides of the HellGate. But the return of an old figure from Verity's past threatens everything, from love to life. (ErenXOC) T for swearing
1. Prologue

My name is Verity Campbell. I'm a quarter-Titan, the one of the kind, the strongest mortal to have walked the Earth. I was the heroine of the Walls, so very long ago. Now, I've been living outside those old Walls, with my husband, the Titan-Shifter, Eren Jaeger. Our lives have been good, but there have been a few bumps along the way. One was our first year together, which was the most turbulent affair that could ever happen to any young couple ever. After that year, I died, defending my boyfriend and my best friend from the Titans, effectively eradicating them all from existence. I swore to always be there for Eren ever after, but there was a major complication that tested our relationship, and our trust with each other. That complication happened four days after I returned to the world of the living, when we faced a fear worse than anything, with the other Titan-Shifters, and we were forced to make the descent to hell and back… 


	2. Revelations

(Nate Orne)

It seemed like we had been living outside of Wall Rose for so long that the days passed by countlessly; we had took refuge in the Forest of Giant Trees south of Trost District. Weirdly, however, we haven't seen or encountered any Titans for the past four days, and on the same day, all of the Titan-Shifters in my squad, including myself, experienced an excruciatingly painful burning sensation throughout our whole body followed by black smoke emitting from the palms of our hands and faces, after that I'd look back and forth all day, especially because I could no longer trust any of my fellow comrades, except for childhood friend Norbert Ven; it all started when we found out Jade's brother, Oscar Calle, a Titan-Shifter that controlled a 13 meter Titan called the Razor-Blade Titan that has razors built into its skeleton and uses them like blades, was trying to kill me along with her, the person who came back to watch over us when we were kids was now the same person who had us fleeing for our lives, but even more threatening than him, at the moment, was when we found out that members of my squad, Swift Fire and Anthony White, had been working for him, way before we had even met them when we all joined the 103rd Trainee Corps, and now I couldn't trust anyone, not even what was left of my blood relatives, which was my two remaining cousins who, fought along-side me, both Titan-Shifters, and now I've learned that Vivian Sevi was once favoring to kill all of humanity with Oscar by breaking the 3 walls and letting the Titans in, which was why she joined the Garrison and injected Gino to ensure that he wouldn't be killed by Titans. I couldn't even trust the love of my life, Jade, because she had cheated on me with Ethan Gill. Now it was nightfall and everybody was asleep, except for me, the Captain of this dysfunctional squad… the squad of misfits.

We had fled from the walls about a year ago, after the central government's publication of Annie Leonhart, the infamous Female Titan, had been successfully captured by Eren Jaeger and members of the Survey Corps in Stohess District; we were hit by the realization that they were many more of us in the walls, and the central government didn't want us in them and they were willing to do whatever it needed to ensure that we wouldn't be a threat to humanity, or them… we then devised a plan to leave the safety of the walls... first it was just going to be me, Jade, Gino, and Swift, but then it became my whole squad; Ethan Gill, Herman Esqui, Cua, and my best friend Norbert Ven that joined us… as we made our escape from the walls at night we were followed by two soldiers of the Survey Corps… Vivian, and Oscar's spy Anthony White who were told to capture me, Jade, and any other Titan-Shifters… according to Vivian, Oscar wanted me dead years ago, especially the day he found out my father was a Titan-Shifter, secretly on humanity's side, so he was permitted to kill him, which is unknown whether he did or didn't, and now he wanted to kill Vivian for sparing me and holding his prodigy, Anthony, captive, but little did he know I wanted him dead just as much, along with what was left of his tribe of Titan-Shifters and their leader, the Ballistic Titan, a 30 meter Titan that has absolute strength and speed, and can control Titans and talk; who it was controlled by was unknown.

I am the Camo Titan, Nate Orne, a 15 meter Titan that can cloak itself and its scent, and also has the ability to talk; my fellow Titan-Shifters are the following: the Female-Warrior Titan, Swift Fire, the strongest 15 meter Titan I have ever seen because it can release adrenaline to power itself, but it gives of a noticeable odor that attracts other Titans; the Strategic Titan, Jade Calle, who has the ability to easily analyze situations and seems to be in a faster world; the Absorbing Titan, Vivian Sevi, a 15 meter Titan that can absorb other Titans into it, causing them to be immediately vaporized inside of it, however, it cannot do this to Titan-Shifters, it can only fight it using its strength; the Scouting Titan, Gino Sevi, a 8 meter Titan that is more agile and faster than all Titans, but its size is its flaw, unable to fight bigger Titans; and the Idiotic Brute Titan, Anthony White, a 15 meter Titan that grows as it gets angrier, but loses its control and attacks everything, max height 20 meters. These were the people I feared the most, except for Jade and Gino; they were the people who had betrayed me before, and who was to say they wouldn't again. I then heard the sounds of gas and hooks about 100 meters to my right… it must be Casey Teni, our inside soldier from the Survey Corps. She'd tell us, in her weekly visits, everything that was going on inside the walls, after transferring from the Military Police to the Survey Corps, but she was a day late, which was unlike her, then sudden clanging sounds and screams shot through the forest from 20 meters to my right… her hook didn't attach to the tree… I immediately jumped into action and shot my hooks in Casey's direction… about 5 meters from the ground I caught her and swung to the nearest branch… I then looked at what was a girl with beautiful red-gold hair, pale white skin, and stunning moonlight blue eyes… but it wasn't Swift… it was somebody else. somebody that wasn't in my group and found us, had been looking for us, and I had to kill them, or at least capture them, either way, I would do whatever I had to protect my squad of traitors and misfits.

We swung to different branches and drew our blades; it was still dark and she was too far for me to tell her facial expression, but I could guess it was that of a warrior's face… we launched at each other knocking the blades out of our hands and landed on branches opposite to the other… she dropped her remaining blades and swung to the floor… I mimicked her as we stood opposite of each other, dropping our 3-D Maneuver Gears… she wanted to fight face-to-face… little did she know I was the top hand-to-hand combatant in my group, even now more than the unstoppable warrior Swift was… she was no match… we ran at each other, she swung and I slid under her fist, grabbing it and flipping her… but she landed on her feet… it felt like fighting Swift, a much younger Swift… as I jumped to my feet she was there, a meter away from me… I took her punch to the face and flew 11 meters into a tree… she jumped landing in front of me, lifted me up and shot another punch to my face … I caught the hit and shot my knee up to her elbow, breaking it and immediately landed a punch to her face escaping her grasp then kicked her off… if she was like Swift, it would heal quickly… she howled in pain, but still launched her body at me; a black aura emerged around her body and consumed her blue eyes, turning them into pure darkness… she landed on me ready to strike as she looked down with her emotionless stare... until somebody familiar yelled, "Verity stop! He's human! He has a Survey Corps' uniform!" she turned and I kicked her off me, and assumed my combat position; she had broken my ribs and and fractured my left cheekbone, I had fractured the base of my knuckles after punching her those few times… she was strong, beyond human limitations, and already her arm was smoking, healing itself… just like Swift or any other Titan-Shifter… from above, two figures swung down from the trees, and one stood next to her and hugged her… it was none other than Eren Jaeger, and the other was Captain Levi Rivai.

Verity was fighting for her life, against this older kid, and she couldn't help but think that it felt good fighting after four days of almost no action. He was a brilliant fighter, but he didn't have the special skills she still had, even after everything that had happened. The two fighters broke apart as Verity's boyfriend, the legendary Eren Jaeger, swung down with Levi, and instantly, he hugged her, as if to protect her from harm. Trembling from power and rage at being attacked in this way, Verity looked out from behind the orange jacket of Eren at the soldier and decided he seemed safe. The wounds that she had inflicted on him seemed not to bother him which began to disturb her, because on any other person she fought, it would have caused them no small amount of grief and pain. Verity pushed away from Eren, leaping forward at the guy again, determined to wipe the smug grin off his face, when Levi pulled her back. Verity turned at him with black eyes, snarling, and he flipped her onto her back in one fluid motion and placed his foot on her chest. "We don't attack anyone unless absolutely necessary. Remember the talk we had after you tried to kill me?" Verity nods slowly and blinks, allowing her eyes to return to the pale blue color they have always been.

Eren steps forward, looking at the soldier and smirking at him. "You're the Captain of the squad that went missing some time ago, with about five or six other good soldiers. We thought you all had died, eaten by the Titans or worse," The soldier looked up surprised by Eren's statement, raising his eyebrow. "What could be worse than being eaten by Titans?" the soldier asked in a hard voice, full of the same emotions as any soldier that had seen their fair share of death and betrayal in this cruel world. Eren looked at his companions, worry reflected in his eyes, and Levi nodded briefly. "We had gotten rid of the threat that is the Titans four days ago, but, with one menace to humanity gone, another has risen with alarming speed. Gates to hell have been opening and we have been dealing with it, but creatures are coming out, demonic creatures with no known purpose or desire except to destroy a certain kind of humanity. This kind is the Titan-Shifters, at least the ones that had once had the power, which, with the exception of Verity here, is only four people," Eren explained the situation to the astonished soldier.

(Nate Orne)

I glanced over to my squad, all of them still sound asleep, and I fell from shock from what Eren had just told me; I puked, with the realization that the Titans were gone… me and my squad had been hiding here for a year with the Titans… all the trauma I put my squad through… all the mistakes we had made… it was all for nothing… my eyes teared up… "Is that why we don't have our powers; some of my soldiers in the squad are Titan-Shifters, I am one of them… we fled Wall Rose, with all the commotion with Annie Leonhart's capture and we began to think that the central government was hunting down all the Titan-Shifters and I couldn't let the king hang a single member of my squad, not without me putting up a fight, that is, even if it meant going against the king at full force, I became a squad leader to make sure my people didn't die, not without a fight, even if the enemy wasn't human; that's why I attacked you, I thought you were one of Oscar's spies, he's part of a secret group of Titans; some of them live inside of Wall Rose and some are on the outside. We've been hiding from them as well, but we haven't seen them in a while, not in a month, but we do have one of their spies. He's up with the rest of my squad," I turned towards my squad's direction, "Guys get up! We got company!"

Verity watched from behind Eren as the squad of Titan-Shifters woke up, one by one. As each of them got up, the rogue soldier, who later introduced himself as Nate, introduced them to the trio. The first to awaken was Herman, a medium-sized guy with dark hair similar to Eren's and brown eyes that looked like the guy was figuring out the best way to kill her, Ethan, a cute enough guy with pinkish-white skin and blue eyes that seemed glazed, Cua, a huge guy with confused brown eyes and black hair, Anthony, the most handsome of the group, with golden-blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and freckles; he was tied up for some reason, Gino, a guy with dark brown hair and green eyes that were close in color to Eren's, Norbert, a guy that reminded her of a raven with black hair as dark as the feathers and calculating, blue eyes, Jade, a girl who had really pretty black hair and huge brown eyes, and Vivian, the sister of Gino, who had dark brown hair and blue-green eyes like Eren. The final soldier was still asleep, and Gino went over to wake them, while Nate was introduced to her. He looked amused at something and wouldn't say, until Jade stepped forward, took a closer look at her, and said to him, "She looks exactly like Swift, but how? She never told us of her family, and if she had a sister… well, I'd think she'd tell us, what with her powers being inherited," Verity didn't understand any of this, but when the final soldier finally woke, Verity instantly understood everything. Standing before her, looking as shocked as her, impossibly, was her. Verity's older sister, her best friend, Amity Campbell, was alive.

Verity walked forward, looking into the blue eyes of Amity, her sister, who she'd seen get eaten by a Titan so long ago, at the fall of Wall Maria, and seconds later, was in a tight hug with Amity, crying and laughing at the same time. Verity couldn't believe that she was here, with her, after so long. After they broke apart, Nate stepped forward, looking at the two of them, and finally said "Do you know her, Swift?" Amity nodded vigorously, still sobbing and temporarily at a loss to speak. Eren was watching them the whole time, eyes even wider than normal, mouth open at the realization that his girlfriend had a sister. Levi just nodded, like he knew this moment would happen for some time, a small smile on his mouth, and walked forward. "I hate to interrupt this happy reunion, but I have some questions for you, Nate, and your squad," Levi said, eyebrows raised, and pointed a sword at them. Instantly, every member of the lost squad, including Amity, drew their blades, and/or had their hands in their mouths, like they would Shift into Titans. Verity ran forward, putting her body in between Levi's sword and the squad, putting herself into a fighting stance, like she would punch him. The whole squad looked at her like she was crazy, but Verity's eyes met Levi's head on, glaring at him until he lowered his sword. "If you threaten the friends of my sister, I won't hesitate to kill you this time, Levi," Verity said in a dead voice, causing Eren to step forward and kiss her. Her eyes slowly regained their emotion and she kissed him back, just as passionately.

Amity walked forward, smiling at the young couple, and nodded, as if she approved. That same moment, everything went wrong, for a HellGate opened, spewing out two creatures, both lunging at her. Instantly, Amity was at her side, Eren on her other, both forward a bit, like they were protecting her. Amity realized, quickly, that she didn't have her blades on her and Eren's blades were broken, somehow. They both turned to her, seemingly in agreement, and time slowed down. They both pushed her out of the way, as the creatures came forward, grabbing them both in her place, both Eren and Amity screaming, the HellGate closing, and all was silent. The soldiers' eyes, every last one of them, were on the spot where the Gate was last seen, then Levi came forward and helped Verity to her feet. Suddenly, she couldn't hold it all in, and she grabbed onto Levi and clutched him, sobbing into his shoulder, and screaming for Eren to come back, running to the spot and banging at nothing. Verity had lost so much, and now her true love and her sister, who she'd just been reunited with after so long, were gone. And she was left here to mourn their losses, without any goodbye.


	3. HellGates and Dreams

(Nate Orne)

We looked down at what was previously some sort of gateway to hell, I was shocked, but it was my duty, I needed to find out what it was and what had just happened, "Gino, Norbert, start examining the spot. Figure out what just happened, we need to get Eren back, along with Swift or Amity or whatever her name is now," I sighed; just when I couldn't have felt more betrayed by my own squad, I find another reason not to trust any of the people I thought I knew. "Verity, Swift's name is Amity? Why would she change it? Do you know why she would lie to us?" Verity turned towards me and shrugged, looking back at the place where Eren had disappeared. I grabbed her shoulder, as friendly and peaceful as I could, and said, "Don't worry, we'll get them back, I give you my oath, we will bring them back safely, or die trying," She nodded slowly and managed a grin, but it looked like she was trying not to break out in sobs again.

"If we don't, I'll hold you to your oath and our fight from earlier will have to continue, only one of us will survive," she said with a chilling, almost sinister, smile. I nodded, "And you don't have to find out what they are, I already know what they are; they are the demonic creatures we were telling you about, the ones that are hunting Titan-Shifter; they're called Snivers,"

A sudden chill was sent up my spine, as I turned to look back at my squad; they were all in danger, and there was almost nothing I could do. Oscar and the tribe of Titan-Shifters weren't my problem anymore, it was these demonic creatures, these Snivers, for now. They had kidnapped Amity and Eren, and I would give my life to save either of them; Amity because she was part of my squad which meant it was my responsibility and duty to protect her, even if she has been untrustworthy; Eren because I owed him my life, especially after I watched his mother get eaten and was hesitant to act, "Do you know where that gateway leads to? We need to get to Eren and Amity as fast as possible,"

Verity nodded and looked at Levi, who nodded as well, and she smiled. "We believe it goes to Hell, hence the name we've given it: HellGate," She sighs and rubs her head. "But we can't pinpoint when and where they appear and even if we can, we are vastly unprepared for whatever we'll find down there," She turned away and attached her Gear to herself and released her hooks into a tree. Just before she jumped into the tree, Verity turned back to the lost squad with a grim smile on her face. "If you guys are going into Hell, you'll need me to help you. Not just because of those that were captured, but also because of my powers. I'm the only one with special powers, the powers of a quarter-Titan, unique even in a world where people are Titan-Shifters," Verity watches each of the soldiers' faces as her words sink in and Nate steps forward. "What, exactly, do these powers allow you to do?" Nate asks her nervously and she retracts her hooks and takes off her Gear.

"I'll show you," Verity says and instantly a dark aura encircles her whole body, her eyes black as pitch, and she moves with inhuman speed, flipping Ethan onto his back and firmly planting her foot on his chest. She isn't done, and when Cua moves toward her to fight, she dodges his blows and knocks him out with a fist to the side of his head. She ducks around punches and slashes from blades, her red-gold hair a blur of motion, jumping over everyone and dragging Jade with her, knife pressed to her neck. Verity drops Jade and is suddenly in front of Norbert, who she immediately judo-flips and crashes into Levi, who hugs her, whispering in her ear to take it easy, but she breaks away and is slashed in a wide arc from her hand to her arm to the spot just above her heart. The shock of all the soldiers radiates in the air as Levi removes the knife he stole from Verity. She crumples, the dark aura fading completely, and before anyone can step forward to help her, Levi looks at the group and points at one of them. "You're the one who is to help her. I'll show you what to do," Levi said and the chosen person, Nate, steps forward nervously.

(Levi Rivai)

The amazed faces the members of the lost squad wore was to be expected, as each of them were in shock of what Verity had done to them and what had been done to Verity, but there was no time to explain in words why I had stabbed Verity, my fellow comrade, "Come on, I won't kill you too, well unless you get in the way," Nate was hesitant, but he still came, cautiously, "Here hold this," I threw him the knife as he came closer, I could feel the life being drained out of Verity with each passing second. "You're going to cut yourself and let her drink your blood; it'll help her heal; it's as simple as that," Nate stood there with the knife in hand, hesitant, "Well are you going to stand there and admire the bloody mess of your fellow soldier or are you going to save her?"

(Nate Orne)

I stood, a meter away from Levi and bloody Verity, her eyes red as fresh blood, her hair now pure red, and her skin as white as snow; if she was Amity, or any member of my squad in this case, I wouldn't be hesitant right; I slightly cut my right wrist and pressed it to her mouth; the moment I put my wound on her mouth, I could feel her draining the life from me, Levi pushed me with his foot, "Verity that's enough, we don't want another one to die," Another one? They had me do something that would kill me? I'd rather have it be me than any of my untrustworthy members of my squad. Levi laughed, which was more shocking to me than him stabbing Verity, "I'm only joking you brat, you're the second person to survive though; only Eren has done this in the past," He looked down at Verity then to me flashing a rare smile I had never seen before, "Look at her now," I began to see as her once mortal wound was beginning to heal, as it would on any Titan-Shifter, except there was no smoke or steam, just a golden aura surrounded her; she blinked her literally bloodshot eyes, and they turned back to their moonlight blue color; her skin began to fill up with color again, at least for a pale white girl.

I was amazed by her transformation back from the dead into a recognizably bloody human, "So this is normal, I guess," I looked into Verity's eyes, she looked as beautiful as Swift or Amity, whatever her name was, but she wasn't Swift or Amity; she was the mix of an angel, for her extremely nice side, and demon, for her deadly rogue side, but she seemed to be more trustworthy than Swift already, "We have to think of a plan to get there; Norbert, Gino, any ideas?" I turned to see Norbert, wiping the blood off his face, and Gino, protectively guarding Vivian, "Well come on, we need to work fast,"

Ethan stepped forward, blood dripping down his nose, "Why would we want to help that fucking witch? She nearly killed us all, and you expect us to forget that and help her,"

Cua, angry for once, began to walk towards Verity, thundering footsteps, as he drew his blades, "We'll be better off if we just killed her, Nate, it'll be easier now that she's out of energy, we can't trust anybody anymore, remember Nate, think what's best for the squad," Everybody, except for Jade, drew their blades, walking towards me, Levi, and Verity.

Levi drew his blades, "Like I said we're not here to kill you, not unless you get in the way," Verity stood up, removing her Gear to increase mobility, a hard glint in her eyes, a dangerous grin on her face.

I drew my blades, facing them at Levi, "If you harm any member of my squad, I'll be forced to show you the skills I've developed out here with the Titans. See if it compares to the skills of a caged bird," Verity stepped protectively in front of Levi, hands behind her back, the smile still on her face. The tension was at its peak, a single leaf could've landed on any of us, and the fight would've started.

"Cut it out guys!" Jade stepped in between us with her blades drawn, facing my rogue squad, "Think of Swift, or Amity as her name actually is; would you rather fight and get mad because one measly little girl kicked all your asses? Or do you want to go save your fellow comrade? Swift was there for all of us, now we got to be there for her! Now Norbert, Gino, Captain Nate asked you something, do you have any ideas," Verity scowled at Jade's comment about her, but everyone from my squad put their blades away nearly instantly of Jade screaming; if anybody was feared more than Swift in the group, it was Jade.

Gino and Norbert looked at each other, analyzing each other's facial expressions then nodding, Gino stepped forward and said, "As I can see on Norbert's face, we both have the same idea, we are going to have to lure the Snivers out; and they seem to be coming for one person in particular, Verity," Everybody turned to Verity, who was now tense, "We'll have to somehow get their attention using Verity, most likely have her alone or in a small group somewhere, they looked intelligent so they won't make the same mistake of attacking her in a group this big, I know it's a bit of a risk, but it is the only way to get to Hell,"

Verity gulped and touched the scar on her cheek, remembering a time when she was last used as bait, with Eren, Levi, Armin, and Mikasa. It hadn't gone well, they'd almost died, had it not been for Verity's demonic side and the lucky use of some blades they'd found from a body, one of their fallen soldiers. That time, she'd almost lost her very fragile grip on control and sanity, and nearly destroyed Eren. Now, if they were to do that fiasco again… Verity was scared to even try it. She took a secret peek at Levi and saw he had the same misgivings. She stepped forward, interrupting the argument that was ensuing between the lost squad, and said in a scared voice: "Using me as bait is never a good idea. Too many bad memories of death. Most people in the Walls know of me as the heroine of the war, but others know me as the demon that once preyed on the innocent. Just having that on your conscience…"

She shuddered, then continued, "Also, I never told anyone this, but when I died, everyone believed, including Eren, that I went to Heaven as a result of my sacrifice. The truth is, I didn't. I had to face my sins in Hell, and the dead Titans, who were, as you could very well guess, pretty pissed. If we are to go to Hell to rescue them, then at least I might have something for us to use," Ignoring the shocked faces of the lost squad upon hearing she had died, and Levi's grunt of shock, she drew out a parcel from a pocket in her jacket and unwrapped it, revealing a small key on a silver chain and a trio blade bracelet. The blades and the key were black as pitch, and a cold aura radiated from them.

Verity put on the key necklace and kissed the black key, then slipped on the bracelet. "I never thought I'd have to use these again so soon after...my death. It was fun being alive for a few days, but I did make a promise…" Verity muttered to herself, her pale face, paler still in the creeping shadows of dusk, a mask of pure terror. Levi turned to the other soldiers and said, "If something like that can scare her, then we might want to have a better plan than the one we currently have. Verity, that key looks like it might be able to unlock a HellGate, or maybe you have a better plan with it?" Levi turned back to Verity, but she was holding the key, eyes blank with horror, face ashen, then she crumpled to the ground, still holding the key.

_She was falling down a tunnel, following a couple figures just in front of her. She extended out her hand to them, but she couldn't reach them, they were just beyond her. One of the figures had rose-gold hair and blue eyes the color of the sky, and the other was male, with green eyes. She watched them go through a hole into a vaguely familiar place, filled with purple crystals and red lava floors, and their captors, two black shadows, threw them into a cage that wasn't in the room a moment ago. The two people were frozen in shock, and her heart went out to them. She moved closer and touched the cheek of the male, but he didn't notice her, he was staring hard at the girl, a pensive face on him. The two shadows took fighting stances in front of the cage, and they disappeared, her with them. She could see that they were travelling to the lowest level of the familiar place, the place where The Ghost Castle was (how did she know what it was called?), and she instantly understood what this dream was about._

Verity awoke to three concerned faces, just above her own, and she smiled. Nate and Jade backed up when her eyes opened, but Levi was cautious, helping her sit up. "I know where they are," Verity said in a chilling voice, and stands, holding out her key and making an unlocking gesture. "Thrice the key must be broken to enter The House of Hell, may the blood of the slain be the sacrifice," she continues in a strange voice and collapses to screams of her name, Levi being the closest to her, catching Verity before she cracked her head on the stone where the HellGate was flickering like a shadowy flame.

End of Part 1.


End file.
